The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of separating a foam into its constituent liquid and gaseous components.
Apparatuses and methods of separating the foam into its liquid and gaseous components have been proposed in the art. The known apparatus has a housing which straddles an opening of a reactor vessel and communicates with the latter through the opening. A plurality of rotatable plate-like foam breakers are located in the housing and mounted on a vertical rotatable shaft which extends in the housing and is journalled by an upper bearing and a lower bearing. A plurality of baffles, also known as "chicanes", are mounted on a wall of the housing and are radially outwardly spaced from the foam breakers.
In such an apparatus a foam is fed from the reactor vessel into the housing, and the foam breaker breaks up the foam into its constituent liquid and gaseous components, whereas the baffles cause turbulence and prevents the foam from smooth circulation.
The above mentioned known apparatus and method are basically satisfactory for separating regular or soft foam, however, they do not guarantee the separation of foam having a high viscosity or a hard foam.